Enter Sandman
by forensic-chick
Summary: Enter the underground world of pro horse shows... drugs, money, greed, and even murder...
1. Chapter 1

Title: Enter Sandman

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI: Miami.

A/N: They say write about what you know and if there's one thing I know it's horses… so here goes. To Lauren my fanfiction buddy and owner of the big screen tv.

The sun hadn't even risen yet but the slight pink on the horizon proved it was just starting to wake. Despite the early hours a young woman was up already, closing her camper door slowly so as not to rouse anyone else. She entered the huge barn quietly, slipping down the aisle. It was the second day of one of the biggest show jumping events of the year, the Dover Florida Classic. The woman peeked into her horse's stall. The gray gelding blinked sleepily up at her from where he lay on the floor. She chided him softly for getting shavings all over himself.

"Now I'll have to clean you all off. We have to get out their early and warm up. I don't like the looks of that water jump and you and I both know that PR Ambission horse can jump as wide as he can high," she said soothingly. The gray's ears flicked back and forth. One thing you needed to make it to this level of competition: a great partner. PR Ambission was a rising star in the show jumping world, snatching almost every title he competed for. If it wasn't for his inconsistent performances, he could very well have every single title he competed for.

"Speaking of PR Ambission…" the woman said, wandering down the barn farther. She knew she shouldn't be snooping around and bothering the other competitor's horses but she was just looking so it couldn't hurt. She peeked over the big oak doors, to see the horse lying peacefully on his side, stretched out. He was a good looking horse, a dark bay Warmblood who jumped anything and everything. Her eyes narrowed. There was something wrong here… the horse was lying too still. With horror she realized that his sides were still, not moving up and down like they should, she turned, and saw the stall across from her open slightly. She looked in, hoping maybe the trainer had decided to sleep in the barn to watch the horse, like some trainers did. On the thin layer of shaving covering the cement of the unused stall lay a woman, hair splayed around her face. A cut across her neck had caused blood to pool around her, soaking the shavings red. The young woman stifled a scream and backed up, racing down the barn aisle and out into the early morning dark, yelling in hopes that someone would hear her. Camper lights flicked on at the sound of her screams.

"Oh my God help! Help I think she's dead!"

The phone rang loudly, the noise making Adrian Simmons lift her head from her pillow wearily. She pulled the comfortable goose down pillow over her head.

"No…. call back later… call someone else," she groaned. The answering machine beeped on and her cheery, awake voice answered. The answering machine message had obviously not been made at around four in the morning.

"Hi you've reached Adrian, leave a message and I'll get back to you," the taped voice said perkily, with a quick little beep following.

"Adrian this is Horatio Caine, we have a crime that calls for your expertise. I know it's early but-" Adrian reached over to the nightstand and grabbed the phone.

"Early… that's an interesting way to put it. It's four thirty in the morning. Who commits murder at four thirty in the morning?" she said grumpily. She could almost see Horatio smiling on the other end.

"Good morning to you to Adrian. My CSIs had to wake up to, so don't think you're the only one losing sleep." Adrian quieted immediately. Lieutenant Horatio Caine was the leader of the Miami Dade Crime Lab. She had been hired less than a week ago and she knew she probably shouldn't mouth off to her supervisor, but was too tired to care. Adrian Simmons may have been one of the top zoologists in the country but by no means was she a morning person. _They didn't mention waking up this early in college._ She thought.

"Yes sir. So… where do I go?" she asked, trying to sound a little more awake. Horatio was an important person and it wouldn't do to make a bad impression.

"We're at 791 Canterbury Lane. We have a dead horse that might have something to do with our victim. Try to be here in the next fifteen minutes." Adrian jumped out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom. Fifteen minutes is not enough time for any woman to get ready for anything. She splashed some water on her face and ran a brush through her dirty blond hair, pulling it back into a high pony tail. She jumped into yesterday's jeans and threw on a green spaghetti strap tank top. She slipped on a navy hoodie as protection from the slight night chill. Within ten minutes she was out the door and driving towards the show grounds.

Ryan Wolfe and entered the barn, looking around. Spotting Horatio at the end of the barn he headed towards the stall where his supervisor stood.

"Morning," he said, looking around. Horatio said a quiet 'good morning' and continued to look at a horse in the stall in front of him. The thoroughbred stared back with large brown eyes. Deciding Horatio wasn't going to feed him the horse shook it's head and snorted angrily, causing Ryan to jump slightly.

"Eric and Calleigh are on their way. So… where's the body?" Horatio was about to say something when Adrian poked her head over the stall door.

"One's over here," she said.

"Adrian this is Ryan Wolfe, Ryan this is Adrian Simmons." A look of confusion crossed Ryan's face. As if reading his mind Horatio continued.

"She's our new zoologist." Ryan nodded and stepped forward to peer into the stall. His face held a mixture of surprise and disbelief at the sight inside. His dark brown eyes took in the figure of the unmoving horse without sympathy.

"H… you brought us here for a horse? It's just a horse." Adrian bristled visibly.

"With all do respect Mr. Wolfe this is not just a horse," she said heatedly. "This is PR Ambission, one of the biggest stars in show jumping. He's a celebrity in his own right," she snapped. Ryan held up his hands.

"Whoa. Sorry… I didn't know. But really, no offense Ms. Simmons, … a horse?" Horatio pointed towards the open stall across from them, where the young woman lay.

"As Ms. Simmons said, one of the bodies is over there. The other is in there." Ryan nodded and headed towards the stall Horatio indicated. Adrian crouched back down in the stall and began to unbuckle the horse's blanket.

"Do you think their deaths are related? The horse and the girls I mean?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder at Horatio, who now stood behind her. The redhead slipped off his sunglasses and watched her run a hand over the horse's almost black coat.

"Well… he is a dark horse."


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Enter Sandman

Disclaimer: I don't own CSI: Miami.

A/N: Thank you for all the lovely reviews… keep it up!

Adrian hummed as she worked, checking the horse over for any cause of death. His airways weren't blocked, so he hadn't suffocated. His pupils weren't dilated; there was no foam around his mouth, no blisters in his mouth so he hadn't been poisoned. She brushed back his mane to get a blood sample. Toxicology would show whether he had been tranquilized or not.

Horatio had gone off somewhere. He'd probably show up right behind her in a few minutes, scaring the crap out of her. He was much more imposing in person, and she wondered how she'd ever mouthed off to him like that over the phone. She stood up, back and legs aching from squatting there for so long. She stretched, cracking her fingers loudly. Ryan was in the other stall, still snapping pictures. He caught her eye and smirked.

"I don't know how you can stand the smell," he said, wrinkling his nose. She rolled her eyes. She knew that by now he had gotten used to the smell and was just saying it to bug her… it was working.

"You can stand the smell of decomp but you can't stand the smell of a barn? It smells good in here. It smells like home." Ryan grinned.

"Remind me never to come to your house."

"Remind me to never have you over." Glare met grin. She couldn't help herself. She had to smile. Ryan leaned against the stall door.

"Do you have a horse?" he asked. She nodded.

"Yeah. I keep him at a little farm twenty minutes from here." Ryan nodded, and then turned to continue taking pictures. The barn door slid open and Horatio entered with Calleigh, Eric, and a very angry looking Frank Tripp. Horatio introduced everyone. Frank nodded towards Adrian.

"Nice to meet you. I gotta get back to the door. People are practically storming the barn to get to their horses." By now they could all here protesting voices from outside. A few of the horses stuck their heads out of their stalls and banged impatient hooves on their doors. Delko petted the bay next to PR Ambission, running his hand over its nose. The horse snorted and shook his head.

"Poor guys," Calleigh said. "They're probably hungry."

"No one gets in here until the scene is processed," Horatio reminded them. Delko set his kit down.

"So… what do we know about the victims?" Ryan shook his head.

"No id. No driver's license, nothing." Horatio frowned. Adrian peeked over the door curiously and her eyes widened.

"That's Rosamund Banks!" she exclaimed, stepping back and looking at the CSIs. They looked at her with blank expressions.

"She's a champion rider… the usual rider for PR Ambission. She won the Sport Horse Cup last year. She was on the Olympic team in 2004… she's one of the top riders in the U.S." Eric and Calleigh looked impressed. Even they had heard of the Sport Horse Cup, probably because of the coverage on either Animal Planet or ESPN. And Eric seemed like the kind of guy who watched ESPN.

"Anything on the horse Miss Simmons?" Horatio asked, turning to her. Adrian shook her head, and opened the stall door wider so they could all see. Eric and Calleigh crouched down on either side of her looking at the horse. Eric whistled.

"He's big." Adrian and Calleigh smirked. Calleigh suddenly focused on something and reached forward to point it out.

"What's this?" she asked, touching the horse's ear. Adrian moved to the other side of the horse and pulled the ear back to look at it. The fur was darkened and burnt. The burn was in a strange rectangular pattern. Adrian peered closer and her eyes widened. She felt like an idiot for missing it.

"It looks like a… burn mark?" Eric looked at her.

"That's not a symptom of colic I'm guessing?" Adrian laughed.

"No. But it's weird." Horatio nodded.

"Is there anything in here the horse could've burnt himself on?" Everyone glanced around. Calleigh spoke.

"Not that I can see." The barn door suddenly opened and Frank stepped in. All the horses shook their heads angrily and stomped on their stall doors, demanding food.

"Horatio, these people say they need to feed their horses," he said. Horatio glanced at him.

"We can't have people stepping all over our crime scene." Ryan glanced around the barn. The horses were getting restless. They hadn't eaten and weren't happy about it. One gave a loud squeal and kicked the wall of her stall. Another squealed back, and another snorted loudly.

"They make quite a racket don't they?" Ryan said, looking at Adrian. The young woman suddenly had an idea.

"I'm done with the body… I'll feed the horses. I'll just ask the trainers which horse gets what and I'll feed them." Horatio looked skeptical.

"Well, I suppose it's better than many people coming in her and running around. Go ahead. Thank you Miss Simmons." Adrian nodded and headed to the barn door. She slid it open and yelled over the talking crowd of about thirty or forty people.

"Excuse me…" the crowd quieted a little. "Thank you. I'm Adrian, and since my boss doesn't want you in there I'll be feeding your horses. If you could just line up or something and tell me one at a time what your horse eats I'll feed it to him."

"What's going on in there?" shouted one member of the crowd. Adrian smirked.

"Oh you know… stuff. So anyway, tell me what your horse eats." The crowd formed a restless and unwillingly line, but it was still an attempt at organization. Some ran back to their campers and trailers, where they kept the feed. The first man in line told her his horse was the gray with a blue blanket, and his food was next to the stall.

"Just give him a scoop of grain from the white bag, a half scoop from the blue and tan bag and two flakes of hay. Adrian nodded and went inside to feed this horse. She returned moments later and took a few more instructions, writing them down on a notebook she had snatched from her kit. After feeding about ten horses most of the people from the campers had returned and were there to give her the bags of grain. She fed their horses and turned to head back to the door. A flash of blue caught her eye and a figure slipped around the corner of the stalls. She ran after it, turning the corner and seeing a young man racing for the side door.

"Hey!" She shouted, catching up. She grabbed the hood of the man's sweat shirt and he stopped abruptly, falling on his butt. Adrian tried not to laugh.

"What are you doing?" she asked. The man glared at her and tried to stand up. She pushed him back down.

"I don't gotta talk to you," he said with a sneer. Adrian rolled her eyes.

"No, but I'm sure you'd love for me to talk to your lawyer wouldn't you?" The man just glared at her.

"So what's your name?" she asked.

"Ben," he practically spat. Adrian crossed her arms. By now, hearing the noise Horatio, Delko, Calleigh, Tripp, and Ryan had appeared.

"What's going on?" Horatio asked. Ben looked up at him.

"I caught him in here," Adrian said.

"What were you doing?" Calliegh asked the dark haired man.

"Nothin'."

"I bet," Tripp said dryly.

"Then why'd you run?" Adrian pointed out. Eric glanced at the hoodie Ben was wearing.

"What's in the pocket of your jacket?" he asked.

"Nothin'!" Ben exclaimed, too quickly. Horatio fixed him with the infamous Caine glare.

"Ben, I suggest you let us see what's in your pocket." The younger man continued to glare. Tripp rolled his eyes.

"Today." Ben sulkily pulled out all the contents. A used syringe and bottle of something. Adrian took these things and placed them in bags.

"Can I go?" Ben asked, sitting up. Adrian smirked.

"Yep. You can go with him," she said, pointing at Tripp.


End file.
